Microsoft invades China

Microsoft is moving its forces behind the bamboo curtain and expects to hire more than 1000 staff in China.

Redmond has already hired 4,500 in China, but the company says it needs more Chinese Voles if it hopes to dominate the market.

Microsoft has a love/hate relationship with China. It loves the fact that there are a lot of customers who want to buy its products, but hates the way that most of them do it is through software piracy.

Ralph Haupter, CEO for Microsoft’s Greater China operation told Reuters that the 1000 new Voles will be added in research and development, sales, marketing and services.

Microsoft wants to reach potential Chinese customers such as local governments and public institutions.

The company has been suing some of the bigger named Chinese companies to fix its piracy problems. In January, it sued Gome Electrical Appliances, China’s biggest electronics retailer, for installing pirated versions of its software on PCs.

The company also wants to boost China research and development spending by 15 percent over the next year. Microsoft has $500 million invested annually on R&D in China.

Microsoft is also building a large cloud computing centre in Shanghai that will employ around 600 people.